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What’s wonderful about Assassin’s Creed franchise is that Ubisoft Montreal brings us to worlds that aren’t normally video game settings. I’ve played through about 27 different space stations. I’ve killed millions of Nazis in all the World War II shooters that have spun through my disc drives.

But if you ask how many games are played during the Crusades and in the Middle East, you couldn’t come up with more than five. The team there just has a knack at bringing players into these gorgeous world’s that feel real and are embraced by history.

With Assassin’s Creed 2, Ubisoft chose another fascinating setting: Renaissance Italy. More specifically, fans will be playing as Ezio Auditore di Firenze, a son of a nobleman, as he learns to become an assassin with the help of some friends and Leonardo Da Vinci. (He made that flying machine in the photo.)

The last time I saw Commander Shepard, he had saved galactic civilization from the Reaper invasion hell bent on harvesting and extinguishing all organic life. I played as a paragon and made all the “good” choices so that Shepard would take the lead rebuilding the Citadel and defending life as we know it.

Flash-forward now to 2009 and things are different. According to reports and trailers, Shepard may be dead and the battle against the Reapers doesn’t look like it’s going too well. At E3, BioWare did confirm that Shepard is, in fact, alive.

The Mass Effect franchise was set up to be a trilogy where you can bring along your saved character through each chapter in the saga. The second act is definitely darker as the demo we saw showed Shepard on his way to recruit one of the deadliest assassin’s in the galaxy Thain.

One of the last appointments I had at E3 was forBioShock 2. I had some trepidation going in. I didn’t know what to expect from a sequel to one of the best games of the past decade. I wondered whether BioShock needed a follow-up at all.

But after sitting on the BioShock 2 presentation, I’m more at ease, still suspicious if it’ll be any good, but more hopeful. Alyssa Finley, the executive producer, said that the sequel takes place 10 years after the events of the original. That’s 10 years of fighting among splicers and 10 more years of Rapture slowly deteriorating.

This time around, players take on the role of a Big Daddy, but you’re not a normal one. Fans play as the prototype. He’s faster, more agile and more powerful than the normal ones. He can use the iconic drill and the rivet gun, but better than all these natural powers is his ability to use plasmids.

Yes, players will be a Big Daddy that has the power to burn, electrocute and freeze splicers. On top of that, 2K Marin and company also puts a new twist on the Big Daddy and Little Sister relationship. Players can now adopt the devilish-looking girls and let them harvest adam.

Over the summer, I quietly got obsessed with NationStates, a Web game that was tied to a release of novel called Jennifer Government. Although the book is no longer on the best-sellers list (It was released in 2003.), the weirdly addictive Web game lives on.

In it, players have to create a country based on a series of questions. Depending on your opinion on certain topics such as “A country should be judged by how it treats its worst-off citizens,” you’ll create states that are inoffensive centrist democracies or a Scandanavian Liberal Paradise.

From there, the future of your country is determined by how you decide on issues such as gun control or stem cell research. One of the best parts of the game is trying to manipulate your answers to get some of the more outlandish government types such as a New York Times Democracy or a Compulsory Consumerist State.

In the sequel Nation States 2, a different developer takes over but doesn’t deviate from the formula. Players create a country and its characteristics are determined by how players approach controversial issues. But this time around, there’s more stat tracking and options such as espionage and diplomacy.

Right now, the game is in an open beta so not everything works, but it’s still something worth checking out. It’s a quirky title for those of you out there who want to rule their own imaginary country.

Play Time: Less than 5 minutes. You really don’t need to spend a lot of time governing. Answer the issues questions and you pretty much have to sit back and watch how your country evolves. So far, my country is a Democratic Socialist state with rare economic freedoms. Eh, maybe I’m a socialist.

Well, the folks at Sony have set up their own alternate reality game on a Web site called Get a War Job. Right now, it looks a little puzzling. The art direction takes its cues right from Resistance.

The Allied symbol does stand out. I was a little suspicious though of giving out all the private information they ask. But if you check below, the site does have a privacy policy link on the bottom. You can also dial the faux phone number on one of the cards: 1-866-931-9417. It gives out a number with recording that ties into the Web site.

The best cell phone game Iâ€™ve played was a golf title. I donâ€™t remember the exact name of it, but it became an addiction on an eight-hour bus trip and an obsession in the weeks and months I had the thing. It was a simple. Just aim the shot, time the power meter and hit the button.

Itâ€™s formula that hasnâ€™t changed much since the original Golf on the NES. The only thing thatâ€™s different now is that the courses look prettier, the physics have gotten more realistic and fans can duel each other online.

Playing Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee 2 felt like that same cell phone title except this one was on polygonal steroids. If the goal of PSP titles is to make the console experience portable, then this game accomplishes a lot. On the other hand, if players are looking for a one-of-a-kind experience they should look elsewhere.

Itâ€™s been 10 years since Dance Dance Revolution was introduced into arcades. Since then, the game has been iconic and the butt of jokes in everything from a Madonna videos to South Park.

To celebrate the franchiseâ€™s 10th anniversary, Konami is releasing three versions of the title (if there werenâ€™t enough already). For the PlayStation 2, fans will get a revamped project called Dance Dance Revolution X (note the many meanings of “X” as in 10, as in variable, as in you don’t know what you’re going to get). For the Wii, players will get a another edition called DDR: Hottest Party 2. Lastly, the Xbox 360 will get DDR Universe 3.

Fable is a dream unfufilled. Hearing Peter Molyneux talk about it, there’s a tinge of regret about the project. It was an ambitious game to begin with full of promises and claims, and when plans met reality, the title never quite delivered.

The impact of this was evident at the Microsoft Spring Showcase. He mentioned a Web site that had the 10 best video game story moments of all time. What pains him is that, Fable didn’t make that list. It was left off, and he says he beat himself up over it.

“I had a dream, which I didn’t realize, and that was to make a truly memorable experience and that dream was carried on in Fable 2,” he said. “And this time, we’ve done everything we can to make a story that you would remember and stick in your mind.”

There are a lot of games I haven’t played, and Spectrobes is one of them. I’ve heard about the game of course but I wasn’t sure exactly what it was. For some reason, I imagined a techno-ish music game replete with flashing lights and thumping house beats.

When I checked out the sequel with Tim Fritzrandolph, the international producer for the title, I was surprised to find out that it was an action role-playing game. The first Spectrobes was an original piece of work for Disney Interactive. The Mickey Mouse company hired Jupiter, a Japanese developer, to make a game that had some elements of Pokemon (You collect the titular creatures) and The Legend of Zelda.

Not to be outdone by its third-party rivals, Nintendo also showed off some of their upcoming titles for the Nintendo DS.

It was a good mix of kiddie and casual fare. The biggest came is one that’s coming out on Sunday: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness. This title is a different take on the regular role-playing experience and puts players in the role of a pokemon.